Geography in the Wild – Dorset Fieldwork

July 17th, 2010

I have just returned from a five day Geography trip to Dorset. I took a group of Lower Sixth geographers to the Townsend Centre in Swanage. We had an action packed week of fieldwork allowing the students to collect a great range of data and experience ‘geography in the wild’.

Monday – Drive from Essex to Dorset. Our afternoon was spent exploring Swanage and an introduction to the Geography of the Jurrassic coast.

Tuesday - Looking at processes on Chesil beach. We visited four different sites along the beach looking at change. This is a fantastic piece of fieldwork as it is really easy for the students to see the visible change in the beach material.

Wednesday - Visiting the town of Boscombe to look at the surf reef and the redevelopment of the sea front. This was put in contrast with the town centre of Boscombe that has not been developed at all.

Thursday – Despite the poor the weather we visited Studland and looked at the human issues surrounding the management of the dunes. We also looked at Sand Dune succession. We also walked to Old Harry.

Friday - We drove to visit Lulworth Cove and visited the Cove and Durdle Door. Following on from this we drove home back to Essex.

Visiting the Dorset coast allowed the students to see case study locations ‘in the flesh’. One student said ‘this is the first time I have got excited about geography’.

I will blog more about the trip over the next few weeks.

This was the first group that I have taken to the Townsend Centre, we had a great time and I can’t wait to go back next year!  More details about the centre can be found on their website http://www.widehorizons.org.uk/t_home.aspx.

Bloom’s Taxonomy

July 8th, 2010

Bloom’s Taxonomy is a useful tool to use when thinking about questioning techniques used when teaching. This is often presented in the form of a ladder.

The image below takes this a step futher and considers the different elements of Bloom’s Taxonomy and links them to different teaching activities. This is a useful tool because not only does it instantly provide an easily accessible list of teaching activities to choose from when planning a lesson, but also classifies those activities. This would mean that  to ensure a balanced range of tasks in a unit of work tasks could be selected from different segments of the wheel.


(Thanks to Russle Tarr who orignally posted a link to the image on Twitter)

Essential Geographical Skills

July 8th, 2010

For various reasons we are switching from doing unit 4B with our A2 Geographers to Unit 4A. Going from Issues Evaluation to the fieldwork / skills paper.

This book is the best book on fieldwork that I have seen. It explains every skill in the AQA AS and A2 syllabus in really easy to follow student friendly language.

I am also planning on using it with my IB Geographers for their Internall Asssessment, there will also be pages that are useful for GCSE Geography.

Well worth a read!

Using Books in Primary Geography

July 5th, 2010

At the Geographical Association Annual Conference in April I presented a workshop with Paula Owens.

One of the things we looked at was using books in Geography.

After a group discussion the partipants submitted books that they had used in their classroom.

(This document can be downloaded from the slideshare website)

Geography of Stuff … Apple’s iPad

July 5th, 2010

For the last few weeks with Year 8 I have been looking at the Geography of Stuff. Broadly following ideas from the Geography Teaching Today unit of work. The full scheme of work with resources can be found on the Geography Teaching Today site here.

This lesson looks at the breakdown in cost of producing an iPhone and also the production methods.

Below is the PowerPoint I produced to support the lesson.


I have also produced a worksheet looking at the breakdown in cost.  This can be downloaded here. Cost Breakdown for Apple I pads

I also used an article from the Independent on the 27th May 2010. This is available on the Independent website here.

I am teaching the lesson for the first time tomorrow so will probably tweak it after then.

IB Geography Internal Assessment

June 26th, 2010

In preparation for my upcoming fieldwork trip to Dorset I have put together a guidance booklet for pupils to support them in completing their Internal Assessment. This is to support students studying International Baccalaureate Geography; the new syllabus; first exams May 2011.

This is mostly lifted directly from the syllabus; as this is the first time teaching for the new syllabus I will probably tweak the layout and content before I use it next year. You can download the document from Slideshare.

Salt Dough Modelling

May 13th, 2010

This week with my Year 8′s I used salt dough to get the students model glacial landscapes.  I used salt dough because it was cheap and non-damaging to the classroom.

Ingredients for the Salt Dough

  • 1 Cup Table Salt
  • 2 Cups Flour
  • 1 Cup Warm Water

Mix the flour and salt together – gradually mix the water in to salt/flour mix. Mix the dough until it achieves the desired consistently.  The dough I made was slightly wet so maybe next time I would use slightly less water. It then needs to be refrigerated overnight.

I used one of the above batches for two students; this gives a large orange sized amount of dough for each student.  This took about 30 minutes to make 12 of the above batches for 24 students. The cost was less than £3 in total. I individually wrapped each student sized portion of dough in sandwich bags.

Students Work

I had the students use the dough to model a number of different glacial features. This was to assess how well they had understood the preceeding lessons on glacial landforms.

Corrie

This was a messy activity. If I did it again I would use an art room or at least a room without a carpeted floor! However on balance the students improved their knowledge of glaciation so their knowledge improved!

Atmospheric Systems

May 5th, 2010

For the first time ever I am teaching about the Atmosphere in IB Geography. This is the first part of the  'Atmosphere and Change section; which is part of the Core, '3. Patterns in environmental quality and sustainability'

A useful video clip to introduce the topic is below:

There is also a video clip – although with a rather computer generated sounding voice on the NASA website. I may use it with the sound off at the end of the lesson and get the students to write the script!

I have attached the PowerPoint that I plan to use. This is the first lesson that I will teach on the topic. I will follow it up with a lesson looking at the causes of Global Climate Change.

Posted via email from IB Geography Wiki Blog

Mission Explore

April 9th, 2010

image

I preordered this book and it arrived on Easter Saturday, April 3rd.

It is a great size, not tiny but small enough to tuck into a pocket.

The graphics are great and the whole thing is a really high quality product.

More details can be found at http://www.geographycollective.co.uk/.

Some of my favourite missions are:

Number 15 – Does rain fall evenly?
Number 29 – Photo Orienteering
Number 74 – Memorise a Place

Some of the missions have potential as Key Stage 3 homework.

The missions are just the kind of mischief that I love. I don’t know how my future wife, Kim will feel about trying some out on our honeymoon?

Paul Merton in India

April 9th, 2010

Following a unit of work on India I watched Paul Merton in India in its entirety. This has some useful clips for the classroom however much is unsuitable for general classroom viewing.  I have created a Index of useful clips. Although I watched it with Geography in mind some of the clips may be suitable for Religious Studies / Education lessons.

Episode 1

00:00 – Paul arrives in Deli; and initial impression of Deli

02:40 – Indian Customs and Etiquette

09:30 – Plane training for people who can’t afford to fly.

16:24 – Deli – a bustling metropolis – talks about population and growth.

17:18 – Monkeys in Deli – a nuisance but can’t be killed – Hindu solution.

21:25 – Dinner with Guide and Deli Professionals (Eating and Customs)

22:55 – Bikanker, Rajasthan – Searching for Bubles – man who saved the town.

26:50 – Karni Mata Temple – Temple that reveres rats.

31.40 – Shivrati – Hindu Festival – Celebration of Orgasim and men doing genetal tricks.

Episode 2

00:00 – Recap of Previous Episodes

00:50 – Punjab (NW) – Breadbasket of India, highest income in country, and Paul Merton walking around city centre.

02:50 – Driving through country – dangerous roads.

03:10 – Man Dressing as women dancing – Traditional Punjab Culture

04:50 – Punjab Police Force (Sikh) – Talks about diet that the polic force have undertaken and Bangra dancing to loose weight.

12:30 – Driving and Horn Shops

14:00 – Book of Records and World’s Shortest Body Builder

18:20 – Indian Wedding with shortest bodybuilder as guest.

19.15 – Delhi,  Blind Cricket Team

25.10 – Japor Summer Palace, Tourist Destination.

27:35 – Hinglish (mixture of Hindi and English)

28:20 – Jaipor Foot – Artificial Lings

32:20 – Ahmhbian – Gandhi’s Headquaters

33.20 – Eunuch’s extortion racquet.

Episode 3

00:00 – Introduction

01:00 – Shillong – Remote Hill Station, Cold, ‘Rock City’.

09:30 – Kolkata – Cultural Capital of India, Indian Stand up Comedian and Indian Humour.

13:00 – ‘Ganges’ Indias’ Holiest River.

18:00 – Schools rescuing children from prostitution.

24:50 – Kochi, Kerela – 500 miles of back water, Fort Kartonion, Trading Posts.

29:15 – Tourism in Kerela and boats on backwater. Kerela’s employment problems.

32:00 – Coconut Picking and Elephants

36:00 – Tamil Nadu – Spiritualism and Street Magic

Episode 4

00:10 – Hyderabad – Call Centre and It Hub – Monsoon’s Arrive /Rain

02:25 – Snow World – Indoor Snow

06:25 – Transport Museum – Giant Bicycles

11:00 – Snake Rescue

20.00 – Bangalore ‘Garden City of India’ – Highest Average Income; Food in Prison

29.40 – Bangalore School – Setting Records

38.30 – Train to Chennai – Artist Paining with Mouth

Episode 5

01:00 – Chennai – One of Asia’s Longset Beaches – Stunt Men on Beach and Laughter Exercises

06:00 – Mumbai – Introduction and Mumbai Railway station, selling plastic bottles.

12:10 – Selling Plastic Bottles, then seeing houses in cramped fishing cottages.

14:30 – Alternative Bollywood – Malagan – Mollywood

24:35 – Mumbai – PG Woodhouse Club

28:30 – Mumbai – Past Life Regressing Therapy

34.10 – Summary of Whole Trip